Increasing Production through Total Productive Maintenance

If you’re finding lean manufacturing to be a bit overwhelming, it can help to separate the process into parts. Once you improve one aspect of production, it becomes easier to widen your focus to the rest of it. One place to consider starting is Total Productive Maintenance.

TPM is part of a quality management system that has been enveloped by lean manufacturing strategies. It maintains and improves production and quality systems by focusing on the processes, machines, equipment, and employees that add value to the product. In return, plant and equipment productivity are increased with only a modest investment in maintenance. According to this article, TPM “Enhance(s) the volume of the production, employee morale and job satisfaction.”

TPM aims to increase the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in the plant. The basic formula for OEE is:

Performance x Availability X Quality = OEE.

Each factor in this equation accounts for two losses each. They are:

Performance – minor stops; running at a reduced speed

Availability – product changeover; breakdowns

Quality – running rejects; startup rejects

By identifying the losses, you address the causes of accelerated deterioration. When you empower teams to self-manage and problem solve, you create ownership between operators and equipment. The teams follow a list of priorities to proactively and preventatively improve equipment reliability:

Focused improvement

Autonomous maintenance

Planned maintenance

Quality maintenance

Cost deployment

Early equipment management

Training and education

Safety health environment

TPM also focuses on five cornerstones to keep equipment in top working condition:

The product

Processes allowing the product to be produced

The organization providing the environment conducive to a working process

The organization’s guiding leadership

The entire organization’s commitment to excellence

As you can see, TPM involves the entire organization, from top leadership to the end product. This is a great foundation for adopting other lean concepts. Within it, employees are accountable for maintaining and operating the equipment so that breakdowns and delays are avoided. The process both gets employees invested in Continuous Improvement and increases productivity of the plant.

Of course, optimizing production is only one piece of your success. Once the product is created, it needs to reach its final destination in perfect working condition or you’re taking a loss. If you manufacture fragile, heavy, or large products, you likely need custom packaging. Packnet has the expertise, experience, and technology to create a packaging solution that protects your assets. We can also evaluate any packaging system to identify cost-efficient alternatives. Give us a call at 952-944-9124 or request a free assessment.